The NIH's investment in human embryonic stem (hES) cell infrastructure and training over the last three years has sparked a widespread interest in the biology of these cells that has caught the attention of scientists with a vast diversity of expertise. It has become critically important to maximize the use of available funds by offering quality training for researchers who want to enter the field. The Burnham Institute has helped to meet the need for training by helping to organize and run one of the five original "Short-term Courses in Human Embryonic Stem Cell Techniques". Dr. Philip Schwartz, the PI of the existing T15 grant, and Dr. Loring have shared responsibility for the course, which was held in 2004 at the Burnham Institute and in 2005 and 2006 at the Children's Hospital of Orange County. We have found that this course is already greatly oversubscribed, and that the level of interest in human ES cell training held in Southern California is high enough to support at least two separate courses. Therefore, The Burnham Institute plans to offer an independent program of short-term training courses. The style of the Burnham and CHOC courses will be similar, and the courses will share directors who will help to coordinate both courses.. But the Burnham course content will have a more molecular biology theme, exploiting the expertise and support of the local faculty. The ten-day courses will be limited to twelve participants who are chosen based on their diversity and potential to perform outstanding research in this field. The overall goal of the course is to send students back to their labs with the ability to efficiently set up and conduct research using human embryonic stem cells. The course will focus on the following specific objectives: Aim 1: Laboratory instruction and technical presentations: provide students with the technical knowledge to successfully culture and characterize hES cells in their home labs. Aim 2. Scientific lectures and discussions: help students develop their own research programs by bringing them up to date on the latest developments in hES cell research. Aim 3: Stem cells and society discussions: help students understand the social context of their research through discussions about the public's concerns about stem cells. Aim 4: Feedback and follow-up: obtain information from students that will improve the course. For this training course, we will use NIH Registry lines WA09 and WA01, BG01, BG03, TE06, and possibly others from the Registry list. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]